22 September 2023
FirstPort colleagues and residents were invited to Highcliffe Beach in Dorset yesterday (21st September) to support of the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean.
The annual Great British Beach Clean, which takes place this year from Friday 15th to Sunday 24th September, relies on volunteers to pick up rubbish across Britain’s beaches and then appropriately dispose of it.
The volunteering also provided the opportunity for colleagues to give something back to their wider community by cleaning the popular Dorset beach spot.
Despite strong wind and rain at points, FirstPort Regional Manager Nick Beneke said it was a worthwhile day, adding:
“We’ve found everything from microbeads to a shotgun cartridge on the beach – and lots of plastic and cigarette butts that people should really take with them.”
The Marine Conservation Society’s week-long beach clean event involves volunteers recording litter collected along a 100m stretch of beach, which will help the organisation to campaign for positive change for the ocean.
FirstPort resident David Liverside joined the beach clean and explained that he found “lots of obscure items” ranging from a metal bar to discarded dog poo.
But of the 99 items of litter collected along the 100m stretch of beach, over 90% of the items contained plastic or polystyrene materials.
FirstPort Sustainability Manager Chris Phipps said: “We are carrying out a beach clean operation with colleagues and residents to help to improve the environment at Highcliffe and our ocean.
It’s important to all of us – for the general environment and for the best of the people who live around this area, including our residents.
“Today we’ve found the usual suspects really – plenty of plastics and microbeads and bottle caps, and assorted bits and bobs. But on the whole, it’s been a pretty enriching experience and we’ve picked up a lot.”
